Pan, tierra y tapaboca: Luis Muñoz Marín y el breve interregno democrático del Partido Popular (Puerto Rico, 1938-1948)

Abstract

José F. BThe launching in 1938 and the implementation over the next twodecades of the reform program of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) resulted ina radical transformation of the economy and a massive realignment of socialforces in Puerto Rico. That process was officially known as the ‘Puerto RicanMiracle’ and, at the height of the Cold War, it was promoted by the USA as a‘peaceful revolution’ in contraposition to the armed insurrection commanded byFidel Castro in Cuba. This article describes a process less transparent anddemocratic that, conforming to Latin American populist traditions, unfoldedwithin a continuum where internal debate inside the PPD and opposition forces inthe public sphere, were systematically supressed as Luis Muñoz Marin rose tobecome the uncontested leader of the movement. The experiment was also afailed exercise in decolonization that brought dire consequences to large sectorsof Puerto Rican society.